Tunisia cites weak ties with Canada for lack of direct aid

Peter O'Neil, Postmedia News05.26.2011

French President Nicolas Sarkozy welcomes Prime Minister Stephen Harper at the Villa le Cercle in Deauville, France, on Thursday during the G8 summit. G8 leaders meeting in France are to call for an end to the bloody repression of protests in Libya and Syria and for Israel and the Palestinians swiftly to engage in meaningful peace talks.

DEAUVILLE, France — Tunisian Finance Minister Jalloul Ayed says he's not surprised Canada is not providing significant bilateral aid to his country to help it move from dictatorship to democracy.

"We hope that we will have the opportunity to develop much stronger ties with Canada. Unfortunately it is not the case today," he told reporters Friday at the G8 meeting of major industrialized countries.

"We're going to have to work on that."

He suggested that Tunisia's lack of a strong historical relationship with Canada is at the root of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's decision to rely on international financial institutions to support Tunisia, Egypt and other countries in the Middle East and North Africa that are seeking help in moving toward democracy.

"Since it is not a historical partner, we did not really expect much in terms of contributions at this stage from Canada, but it is something we have to work on," he said.

"We believe that the future is full of promises with respect to development of co-operation and trade and investment opportunities with Canada."

Ayed said French President Nicolas Sarkozy indicated the G8 will come up with a $40-billion U.S. package to help countries in the Middle East and North Africa that are struggling with fallout from the Arab Spring, which includes a huge slump in tourism.

But other media reports are indicating the region will get $20 billion in aid.

Harper said Thursday that Canada believes aid should come from financial institutions.

Canadian government officials stressed Thursday that Canada has boosted direct cash funding by almost $300 million since 2009 to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and the African Development Bank.

Canadian foreign policy analysts were less forgiving of Harper's position.

"While there are certainly many demands on Canada's modest aid budget, it is important to recognize that the 'Arab Spring' is of momentous importance for the future economic, political and strategic evolution of the Middle East," McGill University political scientist Rex Brynen told Postmedia News in an email.

"Given that, one would have thought that Canada might have joined its G8 partners in finding additional resources to support transitions to democracy."

Fen Hampson, director of Carleton University's Norman Paterson School of International Affairs, said Canada needs to "step up to the plate" with a significant bilateral aid package.

"We are among the strongest economies in the G8, and we should open our wallets."